Process of treating ferruginous ore for the manufacture of iron and steel therefrom.



No. 791,928. PATENTED JUNE 6, 1905.

' M. MOORE & T. J. HESKETT. PROCESS OF TREATING PERRUGINOUS ORE FOR THEMANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL THEREPROM.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25, 1904.

yw Pia/ 52 Patented June 6, 1905.

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ATENT MONTAGUE MOORE, OF MELBOURNE, AND THOMAS JAMES HESKETT, OF IBRUNSWICK, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.

PROCESS OF TREATING FERRUGINOUS ORE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF lRON ANDSTEEL THEREFROM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 791,928, dated June 6,1905.

Application filed January 25, 1904:. Serial No. 190,588-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MoN'rAeUE MooRn, a resident of No. 408 Collinsstreet, Melbourne, and THOMAS JAMES HESKETI, a resident of No. 86 Donaldstreet, Brunswick, in the State of Victoria and Commonwealth ofAustralia, subjects of the King of Great Britain, have invented a newand useful Improved Process of Treating Ferruginous Ore for theManufacture of Iron and Steel Therefrom, of which the following is aspecification.

Our improved process has been devised mainly for the purpose ofmanufacturing iron and steel from what are known as magneticiron sands,such as those found in New Zealand and elsewhere; but it is equallyapplicable for treating any ferruginous ore which has been crushed orground to a state of comminution.

Our process consists in first concentrating and separating from suchferruginous ore any silica, earthy, or other deleterious mattercontained therein. The ore is then subjected while passing through achamber to the action of heat, preferably produced by the admixture ofair with waste carbonic oxid or hydrocarbon gas issuing from anotherchamher, and subsequently to the progressive re ducing action of suchgas or gases alone while passing through said latter chamber, the resultbeing that all the oxygen is removed from the ore, which is therebyconverted into the metallic state, but being still in a finelydividedcondition. It is then allowed to pass without coming into contact withan oxidizing atmosphere into a Siemens or other gas-furnace and immersedin a bath of molten metal or slag which is always maintained therein andin said furnace is fused and balled up as wrought-iron or converted intomolten steel. During the time the charge is being delivered to thegas-furnace the supply of atmospheric air to the gas-furnace is cut off.The keeping of the heated reduced ore from contact with an oxidizingatmosphere during the operation of delivering it from the deoxidizer tothe gas-furnace is an essential feature of our process.

In cases where hydrocarbon gases are used as the deoxidizing agent moreheat would be generated when such gas is mixed with air than would berequired, and for the sake of economy we take a portion of this surplusgas after it passes through the deoxidizingchamber and feed it to theSiemens or other gas-furnace for heating it.

In lieu of using the waste carbonic oxid or hydrocarbon gas mixed withair for the purpose of heating the ore prior to deoxidization by suchgas alone it is obvious that the heating of the ore may be effected byother means; but so far as we are aware our process is the mosteconomical.

We are aware that attempts have been made to manufacture iron fromferruginous ore in a line state of division by subjecting itto thedeoxidizing action of carbonic oxid or other gases and subsequentlybringing it to a state of fusion in a Siemens or other gas-furnace; butso far as we know such ore has not previously been subjected to apreliminary heating and certainly not to a preliminary heating by thecomplete combustion of waste gases from the reducing or deoxidizingchamber with air before being deoxidized by such gases, nor has it beenkept from contact with an oxidizing atmosphere during the delivery ofthe reduced ore from the deoxidizer and its subsequent treatment in thefurnace.

In the annexed drawing we have illustrated a sectional elevation of anapparatus which We have devised for carrying out our process and whichapparatus is embodied in an application for Letters Patent filedcontemporaneously herewith.

Referring now to the drawing, A is a vertical square brick tower incasedwith iron and supported on four piers B, said tower containing a numberof shelves O on either side thereof and arranged in series one above theother and approximately at an angle of fortyfive degrees below thehorizontal, those on one side alternating with those on the other.

D is a hollow casing around the tower A at about a point midway of itsheight. D is a slot in one side of said hollow casing, and D is asliding door to regulate the supply of air passing through said slot tothe casing, if and when required.

D represents inlets in the tower A to permit of the air passing from thecasing D to the interior of the upper portion A (hereinafter called the"heating chambei of the tower A.

E is a pipe for the purpose of withdrawing from the top of the lowerportion A (hereinafter called the "deoxidizing-chamber) of the tower Asurplus gas when hydrocarbon gas is used as the deoxidizing agent andconducting it to the gas-furnace H. E is a cock in said pipe E.

F is a valve, and F is a wheel by which said valve can be operated toregulate the passage of gas from and ore through the lower ordeoxidizing chamber A G is an inclined passage from the base of thetower A to the top of a Siemens or other gas-furnace H.

I is a valve for the purpose of stopping the flow of reduced ore throughthe passage Gr until a sufficient quantity has collected to form acharge. I is a wheel to operate said valve 1.

J is a pipe for supplying gas from the producers. (Not shown.)

K is a fire-brick valve for closing the opening to the gas-furnace H. Kis a handle for operating said valve K.

L is an elevator which delivers the ore to be treated into a chute L atthe top of the tower.

M is a sliding door at the top of the tower to regulate the draft and toprevent ingress of air in any large quantity to the tower. This door canbe operated in any approved way.

In carrying out the process the mode of operation is as follows: TheSiemens gas-furnace is first heated in the ordinary way, the valves Iand K being closed. At the same time a reducing-gas, such ascarbonic-oxid or hydrocarbon gas, is admitted through pipe J to thepassage G, leading to the base of the tower A. The gas passes up thetower, and when it comes in contact with the air, which enters throughslot D and holes D combustion ensues and the upper portion A of thetower becomes a heating-chamber. The concentrated and separated ore isfed to the top of the tower A by the elevator L and falls upon thetopmost shelf C, and so on from shelf to shelf, every particle beingthereby exposed to the heat. By the time the ore reaches the air-inletsD it has become red-hot. In its further passage down the tower the orepasses through the body of gas in the deoxidizingchamber A and by thetime it reaches the passage G it is completely deoxidized and reduced tofine particles of metallic iron. As soon as a charge has collected inthe passage G valves I and K are opened, and the reduced ore passes intothe gas-furnace H, where it is fused and balled up as wrought-iron orconverted into steel in the usual manner. c

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

l. A process of treating ferruginous ore for the manufacture of iron andsteel consisting in suitably concentrating and separating the material,then subjecting the concentrated and separated material in afinely-divided state while passing in a continuous stream to suchtemperature as to bring the material to a red heat, then subjecting theheated material in a finely-divided state while passing in a continu ousstream to a suitable gas so as to convert the material into metallicparticles Without coming into contact with an oxidizing atmosphere, andthen fusing and balling up the metallic particles without coming intocontact with'an oxidizing atmosphere.

2. A process of treating ferruginous ore in a fine state of division forthe manufacture of iron and steel consisting in subjecting the ore whilepassing in a continuous stream to such a temperature as will bring theore to a red heat, then subjecting the heated material in afinely-divided state to the action of a hydrocarbon gas while saidheated material is passing in a continuous stream without coming intocontact with an oxidizing atmosphere, thereby converting the materialinto metallic particles, and then suitably reducing the material to amolten condition without coming in contact with an oxidizing atmosphere.

3. A process of treating ferruginous ore in a fine state of division forthe manufacture of iron and steel therefrom which consists in passingthe material in a continuous stream, subjecting the material in afinely-divided state during its passage to a temperature produced by thecombustion of gas and air to bring the material to a red heat, thensubjecting the heated material in a finely-divided state to reducing-gasalone, thereby converting said material into metallic particles, andthen suitably reducing the material to a molten condition without comingin contact with an oxidizing atmosphere.

4. A process of treating ferruginous ore in a fine state of division forthe manufacture of iron and steel therefrom consisting in suitablyconcentrating and separating the material, then subjecting the materialwhile passing in a continuous stream in a heating zone to a temperatureproduced by the combustion of hydrocarbon gas and air, thereby bringingthe material to a red heat, then subjecting the material in a reducingzone separate and distinct from said heating zone to the action ofhydrocarbon gas alone, thereby converting the material into finemetallic particles, and then fusing the material in a melting zoneseparate and distinct from said reducing and heating zone.

5. A process of treating ferruginous ore for the manufacture of iron andsteel therefrom, consisting of subjecting the material in a heating zoneto a temperature suflicient to bring the material to a red heat, thenpassing the heated material through a deoxidizing zone separate anddistinct from said heating zone and subjecting the material While insaid deoxidizing zone to a deoXidizing-gas, thereby converting thematerial into fine metallic particles, and then Withdrawing the materialand said deoxidizing-gas from said deoxidizingchamber and subjecting thematerial to the heat from said gas in a melting zone separate anddistinct from said deoxidizing zone, thereby bringing the material to amolten condition.

6. A process of treating ferruginous ore in a fine state of division forthe manufacture of iron and steel therefrom, comprising the passing ofthe material in a fine state of division through a heating zone andsubjecting the material in said zone to such temperature as to bring thematerial to a red heat Without fluxing or fusing it, then passing theheated material in a fine state of division through a de- MONTAGUEMOORE. THOMAS JAMES HESKETT.

Witnesses:

WALTER S. BAYSTON, FRANK BAYSTON.

